Here it is the month of December. The days grow shorter and colder here in Georgia. It is the time of year where we may reflect on the accomplishments achieved as a new year quickly approaches. How was your year regarding your running? Did you make progress? Did you experience challenges? Did you have fun?

If you have read this space regularly, you may recall that in January I wrote about commitment and discipline -- a new year, a new you! Well, it is 11 months later. Were you able to make a commitment and stick with a plan?

Running is a simple activity, yet it is more complicated than the casual runner or pedestrian understands. If you are someone who wants to achieve a higher level of accomplishment and satisfaction from running, now is a great time to take an honest assessment of your efforts this year to prepare for the year to come.

Did you meet your goals and training objectives? Did you get faster? Were you consistent in your training? There are many things to consider whether you had a successful running year, or not.

If you made satisfactory progress, congratulations are in order! I hope that you are not satisfied with your progress and will continue to train smarter and harder to realize the goals you will set for yourself in the coming year.

If you did not achieve the success you had planned, what went wrong? Usually a major holdup is an injury. Some injuries cannot be avoided, however many injuries can be prevented by training smart. Smart training, means training consistently. If you are not training consistently, perhaps you need to be truthful with yourself as to your commitment.

The chicken and pig riddle comes to mind. (Sorry, I don’t have a vegan version!) The riddle goes, in a bacon-and-egg breakfast, what is the difference between the Chicken and the Pig? Answer: The Chicken is involved, but the Pig is committed! Are you the chicken or the pig?

If you are the chicken, you are likely more casual in your training approach. Are you following your training schedule? Do you allow foul weather or events supersede your training? Do you get too distracted from training? Do you look for shortcuts from your training, or try to substitute running?

If you are the pig, you make no excuses. You follow your training plan. You do not look for shortcuts nor do you let little things upstage your training. Neither snow, or rain, or gloom of night interferes with your training runs because it makes you tougher, mentally and physically.

So, are you a chicken or a pig when it comes to commitment? Think about it. If you continue to be like the chicken, you will continue to lay eggs and I don’t mean this in a productive manner. It will take commitment like the pig to earn the “bacon” you are looking for from running.

Take time to self-evaluate and plan to commit for the coming year. Meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!